Presently known magnetic head assemblies incorporate read and write modules positioned within a common housing. To enhance operation of the recording and playback modes, it is desirable to increase current to the magnetic heads. Increased current tends to increase heat generation, which would adversely affect parameters such as permeability of magnetic materials used in the head, the resistance of any magnetoresistive (MR) films used as the read sensor, the integrity of thin films employed, and surface stresses among other things. To realize an improvement in head performance, the generated heat must be reduced in the head area, especially at the transducing gaps.
One approach to reduce heat during operation of a magnetic head is to reduce the width of the pulse of the write signal waveform. However, pulse width reduction is limited by the capability of the channel electronics, including the write drivers. Other approaches that provide passive compensation for reducing heat in a head assembly have been attempted, but not with optimum success.